Neuronal death plays a critical role in most of the important neural pathologies, including stroke, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease (PD) and Alzheimer's disease. PD is a progressive neurodegenerative disease affecting about 1% of people over the age of 50. Its symptoms include slowness of movement, difficulty in initiating willed movements, rigidity and tremors. At the cellular level, it is characterized by a massive loss of dopamine (DA) neurons in the brain. Unfortunately, a cure does not yet exist for PD. Current treatments for mitigating the progression and symptoms of PD include levodopa combined with carbidopa, anti-cholinergic drugs, brain surgery, tissue transplant, and stem cell therapies currently under investigation.